The Apache Web Server, from the Apache Group (http://www.apache.org/),
now serves over half the domains on the Internet, according to the
latest Netcraft Web Server Survey (http://www.netcraft.com/). According
to the January 1998 survey, the Apache server and its derivatives
serve 50.24% of the 1,834,710 sites found by Netcraft.

From its humble beginnings in early 1995 as a set of patches to the
original NCSA Web Server, the Apache Web Server has steadily grown in
popularity as well as power and capability. The Apache server was one
of the first Web servers to implement the HTTP/1.1 protocol, for
example. The Apache server has become established as the dominant Web
server, far outpacing commercial offerings from the giants Microsoft
and Netscape.

The key to the success of the Apache Web server is its dedicated
development team. A core group of developers, known as the Apache
Group, constantly update, fix, and improve the server in order to
create the best server available.

Another key to the Apache server's impressive popularity is that it is
freely available via the Internet. Webmasters can quickly and easily
download the entire source code for the server to compile it
themselves, or they can download various precompiled and "ready to
run" versions. Since the source code is freely available, it is easy
for webmasters to greatly enhance the Apache Web server's capability,
either by adding numerous "modules" which extend the server's
functions or by editing the actual server code to suit their needs.

"It really is a labour of love," said Jim Jagielski, member of the
Apache Group. "Every one of us in the Group are committed to making
Apache the best it can be. We are all experienced Net citizens
and therefore have a real feel for what's needed. We also listen
very intently to what is needed and desired by the Net community, so
we can implement those features into Apache. And since we don't have
the huge inertia of a commercial company to worry about, we can do it
quicker and better than anyone else."

"One of the strengths of the Apache project is that many of the core
team and key contributors are themeselves running high profile sites,
and so know what is required from first hand experience," said Mike
Prettejohn, Director of Netcraft, "in particular, the support for
virtual domains, and the server's overall stability and resilience has
made Apache the de facto choice for ISPs and hosting companies
throughout the world."

"Apache is the ideal platform for building mission-critical web-based
applications," said Sameer Parekh, President of C2Net Software, Inc.,
whose Stronghold Web Server is the most widely used commercial
Apache-based server. "Apache confuses most industry analysts because
they have forgotten that mission-critical Internet services, from web
services to domain name services to electronic mail, have been running
on free software since Day One."

The latest version of the Apache Web server is 1.2.4, which runs on
most UNIX platforms. The next release of the Apache server, version 1.3,
currently in beta test, will run on both UNIX and Microsoft Windows NT.

Netcraft (http://www.netcraft.com/) is an networking consultancy based
in Bath, England and is well known worldwide for its Web Server
Survey, which is widely considered a primary empirical metric for the
number of web sites and the relative popularity of web server software
on the internet.

C2Net Software, Inc. (http://www.c2.net/)
is a leading provider of uncompromised network security software. Through
its international offshore development programs, all C2Net products are
exempt from U.S. government export restrictions, allowing the company to offer
uncrippled, strong cryptography solutions to customers worldwide.

The Apache Group is a group of individuals who are committed to
developing the best web server in the world and making it freely
available.